Guagemaster

Overview

The management of Gaugemaster chose Applied Product Design approximately 10 years ago when they wanted to outsource the manufacturing of their various model railway controllers.

Background

Gaugemaster established themselves in the early 1970's with the opening of both a model shop called The Engine Shed and an electronic assembly business called Gaugemaster Controls. Over the years Gaugemaster Controls has developed a range of electronic controllers aimed at the adult railway modeller. As Gaugemaster continued its expansion in both model shop sales, and it's range of model railway controllers, they decided to outsource the assembly of their controllers. In addition to improving the assembly process, Gaugemaster were also searching to resolve supply problems with a couple of the electronic components in its core range.

Circuit and PCB Design

Applied Product Design started addressing Gaugemaster's issues by looking at the design of one of the core PCB's that was used across many of the cased controllers. The PCB had to accommodate either the circuit for a track controller or for a simulator depending on the components fitted. Applied Product Design completed the circuit design for each of the requirements, including reducing the number of components required, and using some more readily available components. The PCB Design work was then completed to ensure easy assembly into the existing case designs. Following this, prototypes were then produced at the Ongar site for Gaugemaster to test. In order for the design to be approved it had to be highly durable, fitting with Gaugemaster's lifetime guarantee policy for their cased controllers. The combination of Gaugemaster's original design along with the modifications in circuit and PCB design ensured that the new design passed with flying colours.

Mechanical Assembly

Following Gaugemaster's approval of the modified circuit design, Applied Product Design put the new PCB into production. This was closely followed by the electro mechanical assembly of the range of case controllers that used the PCB Assembly. These included the Model D, Model P, Model DS, Model DF, Model TS and Model Q. The Mechanical Assembly required by Gaugemaster had to be of the highest quality, and was all carried out at our site in Ongar in the UK, which was especially important as Gaugemaster takes pride in producing UK manufactured cased controllers.

Production

Following on from the Gaugemaster case controllers, Applied Product Design took on the PCB assembly and electro mechanical assembly of their panel mount railway controllers and walkabout railway controllers. These were also manufactured in the UK and Applied Product Design has continued to do so for approximately the last 10 years. This range of railway controllers is now sold all over the world.

Technical Files and CE

The technical files for the range of electro mechanically assembled product in this case are maintained by Gaugemaster, although Applied Product Design does carry out this service for many other clients. This enables the CE mark to be applied to all the products during manufacture, which confirms that the products meet all the required safety and EMC requirements for sale in Europe.

Testimonial

"Gaugemaster's relationship with Applied Product Design has grown from strength to strength over the years. From the initial design work they did for us in a very timely manner through to organising the production of many more of our model range, their approach has always been down to earth whilst professional and matching or exceeding our requirements. As a result of this we have been very happy to keep the production with them in the UK to achieve the quality that we require in order that we can offer our lifetime guarantee on our cased controllers. I would have no hesitation in recommending Applied Product Design both for their design and manufacturing services."

Greg Spears
Technical Manager - Gaugemaster
Please take a look at our website:- http://www.gaugemaster.com